Yolo County dedicates community garden in Woodland

Green thumbs, county employees and those just looking for respite have a new half-acre to work with following Monday's dedication of a community garden at the Yolo County Health Department building in Woodland.

The dedication ceremony featured comments from county officials, the unveiling of a sign marking the place, freshly prepared snacks and the enthusiasm of dozens of onlookers.

"You are in the 5th District, which is known for its agriculture," said Yolo County Supervisor Duane Chamberlain during opening remarks. He said he hoped the garden would make an effective learning environment, "especially for children, to give them a connection with the earth."

The name of the Hanna & Herbert Bauer Memorial Garden - located right alongside the Herbert Bauer M.D. Health and Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Building, at 137 N. Cottonwood St. - is perfect given the legacy the couple left behind, said Supervisor Don Saylor.

Bauer, a Jew living in Austria during World War II, fled the Nazis by way of a back window in his Vienna home, Saylor said. He came to England, where he met Hanna, and the couple relocated to the United States, eventually coming to Davis.

Much later, "Herbert went back to Vienna and saw that window, and said, 'That's the window I came through,'" Saylor said.

Although Herbert Bauer died earlier this year, at the age of 103, "Hanna has been away for a little bit longer," Saylor said - which is why it's fitting the garden should be named after them both.

"That was a love story that would stand the test of time."

After those remarks, the new sign - a work of metal with a plaque embedded in it - was unveiled. Built by local artist Kent Smith, it too will stand the test of time, Saylor said.

The plaque calls the garden "A place where food will grow and families will be nourished ... a place of healing and hope."

Creating the new garden - which features several raised beds, a pumpkin patch and a small orchard with lemon, apple, fig and other fruit trees - was a group effort. But according to organizers, no one did more to make it happen than Laurie Green, Yolo County Health Department program manager.

Green said the idea was first suggested by Jill Cook, the county's Health Director, with the knowledge that Green "had a history" of establishing community gardens.

Soon, she said, locals will gather there to grow, harvest and learn about food.

"This will be open to anyone in the community," she said.

Green said the Health Department plans to host gardening and nutrition classes at that place, "because we are a nutrition program."

Some of the plots will be used by other county entities as well. A raised bed on the southern end of the garden will go to the county Probation Department for its Positive Youth Justice Initiative.

Through gardening, it is hoped that at-risk youth will learn to "take a little more ownership in their community," explained Deputy Chief Probation Officer Marlon Yarber.

Meanwhile, more than two-dozen families are on a waiting list to use the plots, Green said. Any unclaimed food grown there will be donated to the Food Bank of Yolo County.